The Killer Glitch of 2013/4
The Killer Glitch of 2013/4 is what killed some twenty percent of players of Pirate Maidens, many of which were paying customers. The massive glitch had locked out players from the event, rescue, quarters, and news pages, as well as many more listed below. It has lasted for }} days. The bug is account-specific, meaning an affected user can log into other working accounts and access all features, but his/her main account is broken like a heart of a man that's run away from love too long. Events and limited card releases continued despite the fact that the bug had yet to been fixed for most. Background The Black Screen of Death (bsod) had appeared many times before, causing interference to gameplay. The bug could usually be bypassed by refreshing the page, changing one's nation or initiating a brawl. The number of occurrences gradually increased as time passed and nothing was done to solve the situation. (DEBUG DEBUG DEBUG!) Bsod occurrences peaked during the 1-year anniversary Champagne Shower Event. The Killer Glitch of 2013/4 was the first time where certain users got the bsod 100% of the time. Timeline Key: Official report, ''Unofficial report, () editor commentary * 11/12/13 - First reported occurrence of bug * 13/12/13 - Release of next Aeria mobile game, Dragon Legion ** A few GMs from Pirate Maidens moved over to the new game * 16/12/13 - Beginning of the bug for most users * 17/12/13 - '''Account Recovery Procedure' (1st false warning of bug fix) ** In the event that you lose access to your account or want to use a new device, don't worry! We can and will recover your information! We suggest that you keep a record of your Pirate name and Unique ID for every installation. Alternatively, creating and using an Aeria Ignite account can help save and transfer data for specific accounts between devices. If you lose access to your account please contact us... * 19/12/13 - Server Maintenance (2nd false warning) ** Over the most recent maintenance we have attempted to make further improvements to increase server stability, and we hope you see even greater improvements to app performance. Although this has addressed the concerns of some players, we are still working diligently to fix the Connection Error screen bug for all affected players in the next several days. Game Stability is important to us, and we will not stop working until all affected users are able to enjoy the game again... * 19/12/13 - GM_FresnoBob is lobbying to push back the next event in order for aeria to have time to fix all the pressing issues. * 19/12/13 - Emergency server maintenance '''(3rd false warning) ** 'RAWR WHY IS PIRATE MAIDENS DOWN!? (the empathy was a nice touch) * 20/12/13 - ''A lead was found: Bug seems to be related to a table that is commonly accessed. The more times an account accesses it, the more likely the issue is to come up. Older players are more likely to be affected * 23/12/13 - Server Issues ** We seem to be still experiencing some connection/game issues - we are still hard at work looking into it. In the meantime, please provide our GMs with any and all useful information. Sorry for the inconvenience! We hope to resolve these issues soon and permanently. * 24/12/13 Server Issues (Update) ** We understand the frustration that many of you face, regarding the connectivity/black-screen/error issues. We have been working through the Holidays, in order to try to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible. Recently, we made a big breakthrough and have pinpointed the exact problem that is causing the issue. We have also traced the code we will need to apply in order to fix these problems. We will be working rigorously throughout the next few days to get these problems resolved. * 30/12/13 - Connection bug fix is a multi-part fix. The first phase was implemented 2 days ago. * 31/12/13 - First change to the bug!! ** The bsod alternates with a wsod, but encounter rate is still 100%. (OHMIGOSH MORE COLORS! That's so entertaining...) * 1/1/14 - Server Issues (Update 2) (4th false warning) ** The black screen and server issues are NOW RESOLVED!!! We apoloogize for the inconvenience, please check your inbox for FREE GIFTS!!... Not dated: * There were two reports on PM's Facebook that the bugs were fixed. These posts were later removed. Affected users The following users were killed by the glitch for }} days (more or less). Some had quit, others persevered in vain. You've been affected by the glitch, and your name isn't listed here? Then add it in to forever express your disdain for the trouble it has caused. *Nara X π (i.e. Maine12329) *☐☐Peligroso☐☐ *Wally *Handsome pb *Yrbloodyfrnd *EXcalibur *Valhart *EXtinguish *LongJohn Crew *Wally *Starscream *Vailyn *Ryu *Poison Ivy *Delphinus *phiwoody *Madam Mar *ice013 *TuckingFypo *Son of Saint *Conundrum *Crew of Two *Ruby Rose☐☐ *MarieCurie *The Joker *Kissandra *Spooky code *avaleen *Misaka *eXcalibur *WWkld *☐XThunderX☐ *Phiwoody *Lupo *Crusher69 * Yradel Global glitches during this period Global lockout There was a global glitch where every single player could not enter the game for a few hours. This was resolved on 23/12/13 and every player was given 12 Tonics and 1 Blackout Rum as compensation for the inconvenience. Jillian WSOD The Jillian WSOD affected every single player who could access the event. Upon encountering the raid boss Brave General Jillian, one would be shown a White Screen of Death (WSOD). Initially, refreshing multiple times could solve the problem, but some time later the issue was worsened such that it showed a white screen no matter how many times the screen was refreshed. For a short period of time, players who were unaffected by The Killer Glitch got a taste of how terrible the glitch players felt. However, the bug was soon fixed on 26/12/13, a decent amount of time after it had started. Possible temporary solutions The following temporary solutions had been suggested to no avail. # PM could push forward the release of the 'unlimited bottle pirate' that both the Chinese and Japanese version already have. i.e. one always get a Perquira whenever a bottle set of 8 is finished. Note: ''Bugged players can access the gift box when a bottle pirate is completed. Accessible areas of the game during glitch '''Main Page' – can access *Event tabs **'Cannot' *See Rankings (Battle Nation Rankings) **'Cannot' *Management News **'Cannot' *‘see all news’ **'Cannot' *Daily Brawl Rankings **User profile of Rank 1 player ***Can **‘View more’ ***'Cannot' *Guild Rankings **‘See details of rank 1 guild’ ***Can access **‘view more **'Cannot' My Quarters '''– '''cannot access Rescue – cannot access (Gold, wink, ticket and event rescue) Story – can access *Pillage (all features) **Can *Change Episode **Can *Change Chapter **Can *Change Nation **Can *Assign Stats **Can *Review Chap **Can Brawl – can access *Opponents of similar level **Can *Opponents with Bottles **Can **Brawling against others *Call for assist **Can *Build Crew (separate) **Can *Build Crew (all) **Can *Defensive Record **'Cannot' Menu – can access *Guild **Can *Guild Brawl (GvG – all functions) **Can *Enhance (all functions) **Can *Shop **'Cannot' *Items **'Cannot' *Bottles **'Cannot' *Pirates **'Cannot' *Profile **Can *Friends **Can *Invite **Can *Index **Can *Substory **Can *Help **'Cannot' Other’s user page – can access *Friend Invite **Can *Brawl **Can *Greet **Can *Own greeting history/Greetings Received **'Cannot' *Send Gift **Can Miscellaneous *Gift Box **Can access ***Gift box is fully functional when one completes a bottle pirate as there is a link to it through there